Clownhouse (1989) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Victor Salva
Producers: Michael Danty, Robin Mortarotti, Victor Salva
Writers: Victor Salva
Date Released: January 1989
Cast:
Nathan Forrest Winters as Casey
Brian McHugh as Geoffrey
Sam Rockwell as Randy
Michael Jerome West as Lunatic Cheezo
Bryan Weible as Lunatic Bippo
David C. Reinecker as Lunatic Dippo
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is about a young boy who has an irrational fear of clowns and his brothers wanting him to finally face his fears. The nightmares came true when asylum escapees took over the identities of the real circus clowns and started killing people. The clowns invaded the boys’ home and it’s up to them to face this real terror once and for all.
Gore Factor
There were a lot of jump scares in this movie. The most notable ones include the scene where a clown snatched Randy through the glass, the part in the attic where the clown appeared beside Geoffrey, and also the part where the clown grabbed Geoffrey in the kitchen. Although there were no bloodbath levels of gore, the deaths were brutal enough such as the snapping of the necks and the killing of the clown using an axe.
The Grave Review
This is more of a family movie. Think of Home Alone but with three kids and three home invaders. The only difference is that the intruders in this movie are killer clowns.
This is Sam Rockwell’s very first movie and he fits the annoying elder brother perfectly. The kids all did well in terms of acting, and so were the clowns. Although they did not have any dialogue, their facial expressions were scary.
The only problem with this movie is that it focused more on the act of conquering the fear rather than the fear itself. It lacked scenes showing how evil or how crazy these killer clowns were. It focused on the scary faces, their asylum escape, and the fact that the kid was afraid of them.
If there is a thing to love about this movie, it’s the jump scares that go well with the sound effects. There were also brilliant scenes where the clowns were sneaking in the dark that added to the anxiety. The chasing scenes were suspenseful.
The ending is a bit abrupt and open ended because nobody knew what happened to the brothers after Geoffrey killed Cheezo. It would’ve been better to show if Randy was alive, or if Casey was able to finally fight off his phobia, or if the police even captured the other knocked-out clowns. But a quote at the end just proved that this movie is all about facing fears.
Overall, Clownhouse (1989) is recommended if you are looking for movies about evil killer clowns or if you want to introduce horror to younger kids.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Clownhouse (1989) two and a half graves out of five graves.
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